


Acmé

by astronavigatrix



Series: thank you, next [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A little bit of Adrien Salt, Alternate Universe, Alya Salt, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, i stan Kagami and Marinette's friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22678318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astronavigatrix/pseuds/astronavigatrix
Summary: acmé(plural acmés) - The top or highest point; pinnacle; culmination.The first day of school always brings new and exciting things. No one was ready for one of those things to beher.
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: thank you, next [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1733020
Comments: 64
Kudos: 1425
Collections: Astral_Phoenix108's Library





	Acmé

**Author's Note:**

> I know there are a million saltfics out there but please understand: I haven't written one yet.

"Are you sure this is alright?"  
  
Marinette's voice was small and hesitant, and it was one of the reasons why Master Fu only smiled and nodded as he handed over the box containing the Horse miraculous. Marinette's fingers closed over it, close to trembling, and Master Fu closed his hands over hers to settle them. Watching as she seemed to relax at the reinforcement of his approval, Marinette pulled her hands back gingerly, tucking the miraculous box into her purse. Fu watched all this with an impassive expression on his face, but inside, he was in turmoil. His protégé was suffering – _had_ been suffering – for quite some time, and he hadn't realized. Not until she'd arrived after a late evening Akuma encounter, on the verge of tears, and asking if there was any chance she'd be able to get away from Paris with the coming end-of-school break. The look Tikki had given him from behind her Chosen's shoulder had been all the impetus he needed to agree, and if that hadn't been incentive enough, the relief on Marinette's face when he agreed had been.  
  
Whatever she was going through, she hadn't expected to be able to escape it, and it was troubling.  
  
Only later, after the girl had returned home and gone to sleep, had her Kwami returned to explain. What she said made the Guardian's blood run cold, distaste leaving nothing but bitterness on his tongue as he questioned Tikki on the particulars. It was worse than he could have imagined. Ever since Lila Rossi's reappearance, Marinette had been slowly ostracized from those she cared for. While this meant less strain on her time and relationships, it was no tradeoff for the loneliness and isolation she was subjected to. Of course, he'd been aware of Lila Rossi's existence ever since the Volpina incident, however he couldn't have predicted how insidious the girl truly was. To have turned so many of Marinette's friends against her, and to make it so that those that remained her friends were loathe to prove it in person… certainly she was a force to be reckoned with.  
  
But that was far from the most disappointing thing.  
  
The real problem was that the only other person who could have saved Marinette from the situation she'd found herself in refused to do so. And while his justification was understandable, Fu couldn't help but be disappointed. He'd thought Adrien was a braver boy than that. Perhaps he had underestimated the effects his father's isolation had on the boy. It was something that bore thinking about, and though he had said nothing to Marinette, he'd already been thinking on what to do in that regard as well.  
  
"Go," he says when she looks back to him instead of making for the door, clearly still hesitant, "enjoy your time away, as it were, and when you return, we will resolve the rest of this… issue."  
  
Still hesitant, Marinette doesn't yet move for the door, shifting on her feet only to rush forward to embrace him suddenly, her slender frame trembling slightly.  
  
"Thank you, Master Fu," she murmured softly, gratefully, and it was all Fu could do not to tell her to not rush back.  
  
"Of course, Marinette. I may not always be the best Guardian, but I believe it is far past time I was the best Guardian I can be to _you_."  
  
Marinette looks at him, quietly perplexed, but he only shakes his head and shoos her out, waving as she goes. When she's gone, he slumps against the doorway, and Wayzz settles on his shoulder with a worried look. Fu reaches out to stroke a finger along his shell idly, and Wayzz sighs.  
  
"I had hoped it would not come to this."  
  
"So had I," he agrees, turning from the door and withdrawing into the back rooms with a sigh. "But it appears we no longer have a choice."  
  
That night, Luka Couffaine has a meeting that sends him running from his last delivery toward the Dupain-Cheng bakery as fast as his bike can take him. 

  
  


* * *

  
  
On the second day of their summer holiday, Alya shows up to Tom and Sabine's, intent on getting Marinette to 'help' her babysit for the afternoon. Her texts have gone ignored, and she figures Marinette has finally taken the chance to sleep in, given how frazzled she'd been the last few weeks. At her inquiry, Marinette's parents share a Look the young journalist can't quite interpret, and Sabine finally takes a moment as the morning customers peters off to pull her aside. Alya pretends she doesn't notice the way Tom is studiously pretending he isn't listening in.  
  
"Alya, Marinette is gone for the summer. She's traveling with her grandmother. I thought all of her friends knew." The last words leave Alya wincing guiltily, which Sabine narrows her eyes at, and she straightens from her maternal gentleness, suspicion in her tone. Dusting her hands off on the towel on her shoulder idly, she turns back toward the register, and it's as clear a dismissal as Alya has ever gotten in the bakery. "She'll be back when school starts, so in the meantime… perhaps you can text her?"  
  
Alya knows from the way the sentence trails upward at the end that Sabine suspects she's been doing that already with no response.  
  
"Right... thanks _mme._ Dupain-Cheng. I'll give it a shot."  
  
And give it a shot she does, to no avail. Her calls don't connect (is it because Marinette is out of the country?) and her texts simply grey out with 'unable to send' flashing at her over her every attempt. Despite that, her first glimpse at the truth of Sabine's words came from Marinette's Instagram that very evening, the shot of the fading light over the hills of an unfamiliar countryside stunning with Marinette's fingers flashing a peace sign to one side of the frame.  
  
The caption reads simply _'Not that I don't love Paris, but I think this new scenery's going to be just as inspiring'._  
  
Only then does Alya realize that she hadn't thought to ask where Marinette had gone, and Sabine had (tellingly) not even offered the information. Clicking the heart next to the post, Alya waits for Marinette's text and, when none comes, decides to add a comment to let her know she'd seen it. That she was thinking of her.  
  
Marinette does not reply.  
  
Over the next few weeks, Marinette's photos come in bursts, at whatever hour of the day it struck her to post them. The first few after the initial one reveal her to be somewhere in Italy. Pictures of an elegant street littered with classy-looking storefronts populate the first spree, along with a small set of shots of a dessert that looks sweet and refreshing in the mid-afternoon light. The next few come a little under a week later, in bits and pieces over a few days, of a place that it doesn't take Alya long to recognize, despite Marinette not mentioning the location in any of her posts. The store windows of _Wait and See_ and _Delphine Vintage_ herald places Marinette has gushed about when mentioning dreaming of going to Milan for fashion week. Now, there she is, and despite the muted jealousy in the back of her mind, Alya is glad Marinette is having a good time.  
  
If she's also still a little annoyed that Marinette hadn't said anything, she can't really be blamed. After all, weren't best friends supposed to tell each other about these kinds of things?  
  
(And if, perhaps, Alya isn't thinking about the fact that for the weeks before Marinette's sudden departure she's been referring to Lila more and more as her 'best friend' on her social media posts while pointedly excluding mentions of Marinette, it can just be chalked up as an oversight. A girl can have more than one best friend, after all. Right?  
  
Of course.)  
  
Lila's comments on Marinette's pictures (offering to call the owners of stores on Marinette's behalf) go ignored as well, though there is a single reply posted beneath one of them from Luka of a pair of staring eyes. The cute little laughing emoji Marinette follows with is the first response Alya had seen her give all summer.  
  
Not even Ladybug's occasional Akuma fights could distract her from overthinking about her supposed 'best friend's' unusual silence, but when she brings it up to Nino, he only sighs and shakes his head. As if he can't understand _why_ she seems so bothered. When she asks if he isn't annoyed that Marinette has gone off and is ignoring them all, he cuts his eyes to the side, guilty, and Alya can only stare in surprise. Surprise that quickly morphs to anger, because just what does Marinette think she's _playing at_ , talking to Alya's _boyfriend_ but not her? But Nino only gives her that puzzled stare again, and then points out, softly, that Alya hadn't seemed that bothered about not talking to Marinette during school.  
  
Alya tries to reply to that, but finds she can't dredge up the words.  
  
Fine; if Marinette wants to ignore her, then she won't bother to keep up with her. It isn't like she doesn't have better things to do, after all, and she's well overdue for another interview for the Ladyblog. Yet every time she thinks to go chasing after Ladybug, the heroine only disappears without a word before Alya can even call out her name. With the sparse amount of Akumas over the holiday (Alya suspects Hawkmoth may have a suddenly-free teenager to contend with, and she's not entirely wrong) even that avenue of entertainment dries up fast.  
  
In the meantime, Alya hears from Lila as they meet up for ice cream (that she ends up buying, because Lila dropped her coin purse on the subway on the way there) that Marinette's moved from Italy to Belgium, then Iceland. That her posts have included a brief meeting with Jagged Stone (a meeting which Lila says she denied, and so _of course_ Jagged had to resort to second-best), including a video where the man seemed to get along with the young designer's grandmother as well as he did the girl herself.  
  
The caption was a telling, if somewhat teasing _'mistakes have been made'_.  
  
Then, four and a half weeks into the vacation, Lila tells Alya that Marinette posted a photo of herself and Kagami in front of Tokyo tower, and Alya feels the anger rise once again.  
  
Adrien, she knows for a fact, is stuck working on shows around the country for Gabriel during the summer season, which means he doesn't have time to go visit Kagami's homeland with her. That the so-called Ice Queen had apparently extended the invitation to Marinette was puzzling, to say the least. Granted, Marinette had seemed just fine with the fact that the other brunette was dating Adrien, but… It was strange.  
  
Alya can't says she remembers the last time she's seem Marinette smile like that.  
  
It isn't the only thing that was off about the photo, just the only one she can currently pick out. Whatever it is that's bothering her besides the other girl's choice of company eludes her entirely. Still angry, Alya closes the tab she's pulled up to have a look for herself and moves to open up the Ladyblog instead. She resolves, once more, to ignoe whatever it is Marinette is up to, and returns to trying to keep traffic to the site going. With Ladybug more elusive than ever though, her only source for information is Lila, and so Alya decides that maybe it's time for another interview with Ladybug's best friend instead.  
  
Maybe she'll have some insight as to what it is that's keeping the superheroine so busy.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
To say that Adrien is surprised to wake to find himself facing Master Fu one morning is an understatement. When he hears Plagg's quiet, heartfelt _'aw, crap'_ , the older man's presence becomes all the more unsettling. Adrien scrambles to his feet, but Master Fu holds up a hand, moving to stride toward him with an air of solemnity that has the hair on his neck standing on end. He settles on the edge of his bed, hands placed one on top of the other, and fiddles with his ring as he looks up at the older, grandfatherly man with a faint, nervous smile.  
  
"Master?" He ventures questioningly as a hand lands on his shoulder, "is something the matter?"  
  
"I'm afraid so, my boy. I'm afraid so."  
  
Adrien doesn't remember the reasons Master Fu gave him, or trying to deny all of them despite knowing deep, deep down that everything being said to him was right. He doesn't remember struggling to try and keep the Miraculous. He doesn't remember trying to transform despite the ring not being on his finger anymore. He doesn't remember anything at all, besides opening one of his cabinets and wondering why in the _world_ there's so much camembert hidden inside.  
  
He _does_ remember that he doesn't even like the stuff.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Marinette's last summer post comes a couple of days before the first day of school – a cryptic _'they said yes!'_ with nothing more than a picture of her hand giving a thumbs-up, her grandmother's hand visible on her arm just barely in the frame. The other girls (half of them, at least, as Myléne, Juleka and Rose have been scarce all summer) all theorize in the group chat as to what it could mean. That Marinette isn't a part of it is only briefly pointed out by Chloé before she resumes ignoring them. Alya tries hard not to think about how that makes a bit of guilt rise but… if Marinette won't tell them what's up with her, then they're allowed to guess. It's only fair, after all.  
  
The night before school starts, she's turned away from the bakery once again. Sabine explains that Marinette is jetlagged and needs as much rest as she can get. Alya understands it, knows she's right, but she's still kind of annoyed that she can't even go up to say hello.  
  
(Sabine watches her go, and hopes Marinette will tell the poor girl soon. The situation had been explained to her after she'd called in concern over Alya's first visit, and while she doesn't sympathize with her daughter's former friend, she can imagine how frustrated she must be. Marinette has promised to deal with it first thing though, and Sabine hopes that will be the end of things.  
  
From what she knows of the girl, she doubts it.)  
  
The next morning finds Alya waiting as usual outside the front gates for her classmates, waving at other students as they pass her to meet their own friends in the courtyard. To her surprise, she sees Luka stride up beside Juleka, despite having finished _terminale_ the year before, and feels her eyebrows rise. Sure, she knew he and Marinette had been getting closer but… he couldn't be here to see _her_. Though she will admit that the inches that he'd put on (in both height and across his shoulders) over the last year hadn't done him any disservice, Alya knows that Marinette (for all that she was pretending she wasn't) was still _thoroughly_ stuck on Adrien.  
  
At least, that's what she tells herself to keep from wondering if she's missed a development in that department while she was focusing on Lila.  
  
Kagami arrives with Adrien in tow, arm laced around his and a red jumper dress replacing her previous skirt, though the button-down and blazer remain. Her cherry-red high-tops are even more intricate than the ones from the year before, and Alya can't deny that the look is a good one, especially when paired with the bright wing of scarlet liner on her eyes. It seems like Adrien agrees, if the dreamy-eyed way he's looking down at her is any indication, somehow even taller now than he had started to get when they'd parted ways for the summer.  
  
"I tried to get here earlier, but _maman_ was insistent I eat properly for the first day of school…!" Marinette's voice drifts toward them before the girl herself comes into view, and everyone turns in surprise to see if she's really there so early or if they're imagining things. Her presence in a timely fashion, it turns out, is the _least_ of the things they could have imagined would be out of the ordinary about Marinette that day. "…what? Is there something on my face?"  
  
A slender hand lifts up, stopping only at the slight shake of Kagami's head, who has a smile on her face that says she saw this coming. Marinette's hand drops to the strap on her shoulder, which shifts the braid draped over it behind her. She tilts her head instead, lips painted in glossy rose gradient pursing in thought, and taps her hand against her cheek. She's dressed in a cropped pink jacket, sleeves rolled up to reveal a pink polka-dotted inner lining over a slightly too-long button-down. The top is also a touch translucent, a black ribbon present a bit below her bust and tied in a bow that peeks slightly from beneath the back of the jacket. Paired with her fitted black slacks and low-heeled pink suede boots, Marinette looks more composed, more _grown up_ than she ever has before.  
  
Then she looks down at Kagami ( _down!_ ) and Alya realizes what the strangeness of the photo from Tokyo tower had been. Previously a girl of slightly less-than-average height, the summer had apparently seen Marinette be hit by the Dupain side of her genes like a train. Tall enough now to lean her chin on Kagami's head (which she does, with the aid of her boots) Marinette is suddenly all legs and hips and sharp, stunning eyes over cheekbones lacking a good portion of their previous baby fat. Then she lifts her chin to stare them all down curiously and the early-morning sunlight gleams off the rosy gold of the ring in her septum. Alya swears she hears Luka make a strangled noise that sounds suspiciously like a _whimper_.  
  
Marinette, to Alya's shock, _beams_.  
  
"You made it," she very nearly _coos_ , stepping around Kagami to peer up at Luka through mascara-lengthened lashes, and the older boy nods silently, as if not quite trusting his voice just yet. "I'm so glad – I brought you something!"  
  
Behind his back, Alya sees Juleka and Kagami exchange euros, the Japanese girl smirking triumphantly, and resists the urge to roll her eyes. Okay, so Marinette got a new look. So what? It's happened to all of them at one point or another. Does it really need to be such a production?  
  
"Girl, it's about time," she pipes up with a laugh, stepping forward and reaching out to clasp Mari's arm. "You're a lucky man Couffaine…!"  
  
Luka's soft _'don't I know it'_ is superseded, however, by the way Marinette moves away from Alya's grasping hand, mouth pursed once again, and narrows her eyes.  
  
"Don't.… touch me without my permission," she says softly, stepping to put space between herself and Alya as the other's mouth drops open in disbelief. "You don't get to do that anymore."  
  
It's the last straw.  
  
"Excuse me, but _what_ -!?"  
  
  


* * *

  
  
She really, really hadn't wanted it to come to this. Lips thinning, Marinette watches Alya sputter and stare at her, fire in her eyes and indignation in the curl of her fingers into fists, and heaves a sigh between her teeth. In front of her, Luka shifts as if to make himself a proper barrier between them, but Marinette lays a hand on his arm and shakes her head. She can do this. She _has_ to do this.  
  
Alya's feelings have been spared long enough.  
  
"Why do you think I didn't tell you I was going anywhere?" She begins softly, hands folding defensively across her chest. The discomfort in her voice, in her body language, is evident, and the friends around them all look away save for Kagami. She simply stares at Alya, expectant and intent, as if prepared to step in at any moment.  
  
Marinette appreciates that more than she knows.  
  
"Y-you were busy, that's all," Alya rationalizes. "We both were. The end of the year was kind of hectic with everything that was going on and…"  
  
"That's not it. That's not it and you _know_ it." She'd say it's unbelievable, but at this point, she won't put anything past the rationalizations people will make in order not to feel guilty. "You spent the last few months of _seconde_ either pretending I didn't exist or only talking to me when you wanted something. And whenever I refused, you tried to _guilt me_ using someone you _knew_ I couldn't stand." People around them are staring, but where Marinette would have shied away from the spectacle before, the time she'd spent with her grandmother and Kagami had cemented one thing in her mind:  
  
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a lot of things, but she was _no one's_ doormat. Not anymore.  
  
"Isn't that a little harsh? I would have thought you'd be over that by now, since you're over you-know-who and–!"  
  
"I've been over him for _ages_!" Marinette's voice is a whip-crack, a thunder strike, booming and cracking with both rage and embarrassment. In her periphery, she can see Kagami shaking her head in disbelief. "If you'd ever bothered to _listen_ to me instead of trying to steamroll me into what you thought I should do, maybe you'd have realized! But between trying to tell me what it is _I want_ and trying to defend Lila from accusations I stopped caring enough to make, you probably just didn't have the _time_."  
  
"Oh I got here _just_ in time," Chloé's voice sounds from behind her, and the blonde settles beside Adrien, leaning forward to exchange a look with Kagami across his chest. "Please tell me she just started."  
  
Kagami's answering nod makes her practically _cackle_ with delight.  
  
Realizing they're gathering a crowd, Alya reaches for Marinette's arm again, only to have her once more move it out of her grasp. When she realizes that won't work, Alya swallows and tries to pacify her, raising her hands and shaking her head.  
  
"Okay, alright, fine – come on, we can finish this in class girl-!"  
  
"No," Marinette sighs, "we _can't_. I'm not _in_ your class anymore. I put in the paperwork to transfer before school ended." Her tone turns sharp again, eyes narrowing. "Besides, you wanted to _start_ this out here, so we'll _finish_ it out here." Hand coming up, she begins ticking off on her fingers as she speaks, hoping the other girl understands that she brought this on herself. Even if she doesn't, Marinette is too exhausted to care. She'd been on a flight for nearly a day, has slept enough only because her mother thought to give her something to help her sleep despite all her nervous energy, and her piercing (new as it was) still throbs dully despite her excitement over Luka's reaction to it.  
  
In other words: Marinette is one-hundred and fifty percent _done_.  
  
"You were a crappy friend who believed a glory-hounding wannabe over your own _best friend_. You called me a bully _despite_ knowing that I'd been bullied for _years_ myself." At that, Chloé mutters a soft _'utterly ridiculous!'_ that borders on the surreal. "You convinced people to take sides to _'teach me a lesson'_ ," the air quotes here are sharp and mocking, "because I was being _so awful_ to poor Lila. Even though, conveniently, _no one_ was ever around to see it happen. You just took her word for it. Like mine meant _nothing_. But you still wanted to act like we were friends. Like I was supposed to drop anything and everything to do whatever you needed. And if we _were_ still friends, maybe I would have. But I realized we _weren't_ friends anymore, Alya, and we hadn't been for a long time. Everyone else figured it out too. It looks like the only one that didn't get the memo was _you_."  
  
"You're on this _again_? Marinette come on, I know you don't like her for," Alya's eyes flick to Adrien, and Marinette resists a scream, " _reasons_ , but you _know_ you were acting a little nuts about her!"  
  
"But I told you she was lying."  
  
Adrien interjects softly, uncomfortably, hitching his backpack up on his shoulders. Marinette, as she turns to him, can only stare, eyes wide.  
  
"You.…you _did_?"  
  
"Over the summer," he confirms, nodding slowly. "I… I told everyone, actually. Some people didn't really want to believe me, but… I told them. Like I should have a long time ago. It's like… it's like suddenly I realized there was more to lose than just her being Akumatized. _Again_."  
  
Marinette's eyes turn back to a flushed and contrite Alya, and this time her expression is blank, bereft of any emotion whatsoever. And from the look on Alya's face, that's _much_ worse than the anger that had been there previously.  
  
"...we're done here, Césaire." Her voice is flat and cold, and she takes Luka's hand to lead him away so they can have their talk, ignoring the way Alya seems to crumple in their wake.  
  
She made this bed, after all. Now she has to lie in it.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
"I got you one more thing," Marinette says later that night, peering out over the edge of her balcony while Luka perches on the railing to her left, ankles locked around the bars to keep himself from having any accidents. "…but this one you don't _have_ to take."  
  
Something in her voice stops his fingers where they pluck at his guitar, the soft melody petering out into nothingness in the still-warm evening air. Marinette reaches into her pocket and steps up between his knees, bracing a hand on his back while the other offers out a plain, silver ring. Luka's eyes grow wide, meeting Tikki's over Marinette's head, and he swallows hard as he realizes a few things all at once that make entirely too much sense. Slowly, he pulls the guitar over his head so he can set it aside, leaning it carefully against the banister, his eyes never once leaving Marinette's if he can help it.  
  
"Luka Couffaine," Marinette begins seriously, earnestly, "this is the Miraculous of the Cat. It grants the power of Destruction. Should you choose to wield it for the sake of Paris, you will do so at my side for the foreseeable future – either until you quit, or until Hawkmoth is defeated. Can I trust you to have my back and the best interests of Paris at heart, in this fight?"  
  
Trembling fingers reach for the ring, and he leans down to press his answer against her lips over and over again.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> As much as i love tiny Marinette who can throw people around despite her size, looking at Tom and his mother and how Marinette is already taller than Sabine, I couldn't resist.


End file.
